Chance for good Stats MS w/ low major GPA but high math GPA

[theDKster]

My major GPA (in engineering) is unfortunately only a 3.0, but my math GPA is significantly higher - a 3.97, including undergrad courses in linear algebra, analysis, topology, calculus-based probability, and a graduate class in measure theory.

How much emphasis do admissions committees place on math/stats grades over grades in courses unrelated to those two fields? Based on my awkward academic profile (to give additional context I go to a top 50 university and have some statistics research w/ no publications), would I still be competitive for good-to-elite Stats M.S. programs? I totally understand that someone with a similar background but higher major GPA would get in over me, but barring competition, do admissions committees forgive poor grades in unrelated classes?

Thanks for your insights!

[theDKster]

Going to bump this just once.

[Marlene5]

Well, I'm not from America so I have no clue what kind of GPA is good or bad. 

It definitely depends on what you donoutside classes if your grades are so-so. And if I were an admissions officer, I would look more at the course-related classes for sure. 

[edward130603]

yes i think you will be competitive for good stat ms schools if you have good math grades, and get a good quant gre. just address the low grades in statement.

[cyclooxygenase]

You haven't included much in the way of grades by class, which might be more useful.  For instance, what were your grades in Real Analysis (which I'm assuming you just called Analysis) and your Measure Theory class?  Those would be most important.

That being said, if you got A's in both of those, I really have to assume you would be very competitive for most Master's programs, that's a pretty strong math background you've got there, probably more than most people they run into in Master's admissions.

[Marlene5]

4 hours ago, cyclooxygenase said:

that's a pretty strong math background you've got there, probably more than most people they run into in Master's admissions.

Seriously? I thought a Master's degree in statistics is a continuation of a mathematics degree and that you need to study mathematics usually to attend such a program. 

[Warelin]

46 minutes ago, Marlene5 said:

Seriously? I thought a Master's degree in statistics is a continuation of a mathematics degree and that you need to study mathematics usually to attend such a program. 

Most programs accept people from different fields. The important thing is that there's usually a minimum amount of credit hours met and that the applicant shows a strong ability to succeed in the degree. Engineering and Math are common changes as are Psychology and Sociology and English and Communication.

[theDKster]

Does anyone have any recommendations for target M.S. programs given my cursory profile description? (I can elaborate more if needed, though my initial rundown briefly touches upon everything).

I am having a lot of difficulty constructing a non-risky portfolio of schools to apply for, hence this question :(

[Bayesian1701]

On 8/20/2018 at 5:36 PM, Marlene5 said:

Seriously? I thought a Master's degree in statistics is a continuation of a mathematics degree and that you need to study mathematics usually to attend such a program. 

You don't need to major in math, but multivariable calculus,  linear algebra and a statistics class is usually recommended or required.  Additional classes like real analysis can help. 

 

On 8/17/2018 at 5:57 PM, theDKster said:

My major GPA (in engineering) is unfortunately only a 3.0, but my math GPA is significantly higher - a 3.97, including undergrad courses in linear algebra, analysis, topology, calculus-based probability, and a graduate class in measure theory.

How much emphasis do admissions committees place on math/stats grades over grades in courses unrelated to those two fields? Based on my awkward academic profile (to give additional context I go to a top 50 university and have some statistics research w/ no publications), would I still be competitive for good-to-elite Stats M.S. programs? I totally understand that someone with a similar background but higher major GPA would get in over me, but barring competition, do admissions committees forgive poor grades in unrelated classes?

Thanks for your insights!

I think we would need to see a full profile to give any advice.  You can find a profile evaluation and copy/paste the form.

[theDKster]

3 hours ago, Bayesian1701 said:

I think we would need to see a full profile to give any advice.  You can find a profile evaluation and copy/paste the form.

Sure. I can do that below, or elsewhere in the forum as well. Let me just do it below for now (and don't feel obligated to do any research on my behalf):

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Undergrad Institution: Top 50 U.S. university (top 20 public)

Major:  Engineering

GPA: 3.6

Major GPA: 3.0

Type of Student: Domestic Male

Undergrad (Math/Stats) Courses: 

Calculus II-III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Diff. Equations (A), Into to Probability Theory - calculus based (A+), Advanced Calculus (A), Real Analysis I (A), Real Analysis II (A-), Topology (A), Measure Theory - grad (A)

 

GRE: Going to retake soon, didn't study for Quant at all (and confident I can get at least 167)

Q: 165
V: 163
W: 5.0

 

Programs Applying: 

Statistics MS

 

Research Experience: 

-Two quarters for computational neuroscience research, with no publications and an informal paper I submitted to the lab. Worked mostly with a postdoc

-Two quarters of (ongoing) research with a distinguished statistics professor (no publications yet here either)

 

Recommendation Letter: One from statistics professor above (hard to tell whether this one will be great or just decent), one from a known math professor who does a lot of work in ML (should be strong), not yet sure about third one...

 

Miscellaneous notes: Some of my engineering grades were affected by a health problem in one year, which I have documentation from the university for. Retaking one of those classes now (got two F's, one of which I already retook for an A-).

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Based on this profile, any recommendations for target programs? From my preliminary research it looks like MS programs are more competitive than I'm being led to believe (yet still not as competitive as PhD programs). Most of the good programs I've seen have acceptance rates under 20%, with some under 10% (and these are not even elite programs).

Edited August 23, 2018 by theDKster

[cyclooxygenase]

Obviously I'm pretty well debunked as a good evaluator, but just for purpose of giving you some opinion to ruminate on:

The health problem background helps limit the effect your major and overall GPA will have on admissions.  While a higher quantitative GRE score wouldn't hurt, you have overall good GRE scores, pretty strong math grades, and aren't completely lacking in research experience.  I think you'd be competitive most anywhere -- obviously the top schools (Stanford, UChicago, etc?) are never really a sure bet, so have some other schools in mind, but I think you'd have at least a shot.

I mean, I may be applying in Biostat, but feel free to look at my evaluation thread: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/110483-2019-statbiostat-phd-applicant-judgment/?tab=comments#comment-1058618664.  Without the F's we'd probably have reasonably similar GPAs, my quantitative GRE is better but yours really isn't a big worry so far as I know, and our research experience is fairly comparable.  Meanwhile, you absolutely blow me away in math background.  While I don't have much shot at applying to the sorts of top institutions I'm naming to you (especially in statistics, rather than biostat), I'm applying for Ph.D. programs rather than M.S. programs, and I feel like I might actually have a shot at some top programs if I had your math background.  Hence, I figure you would do better than I would if I was applying to M.S. programs, and I would expect to get into a fairly decent M.S. program, if not quite the level I'm suggesting you could apply for.  That's my reasoning, take it for what little it's worth.

 

[timaximum]

Speaking from my own experience, gpa of irrelevant classes will not be very important in admission. I did an undergrad majoring in chemistry and my chemistry gpa is only 3.5. I had a math double major and my math gpa is 3.9. That was enough to get me admission into UChicago's stat ms program in the last cycle.  Your math course background looks pretty strong, and I think that will seem to be a good profile for many top level MS programs. If you could get a high GRE Math Sub score, it will definitely be better since you are not from a math/stat major. That being said, although you could be a competitive applicant when admission committee reads these files, I heard that some school might impose some filters on applicants' profiles in their system primarily due to the large amount of applicants.I would suggest trying to avoid mentioning your major GPA in the application system and use the overall gpa instead. As long as faculties get to read your transcript and SOP, I don't think a major gpa of 3.0 will be an issue.

[bayessays]

I think you'll be fine.  Apply to the top programs and some that are a little lower (don't only apply to Stanford and Chicago).